Chateau Latour 2013

Vines have grown on the site since the fourteenth century, and Thomas Jefferson rated the vineyard first quality in 1787. The property was divided during the French Revolution, reunited in 1841, and the Societe Civile de Chateau Latour was formed in 1842. Latour was named a First Growth in the 1855 Classification, and the present chateau was completed in 1864.

Family control, which had passed through the de Clauzel and then the Segur lines, ended in 1963, when the Segur heirs, by then named de Beaumont, sold three-quarters of the shares to Pearson Group interests under Lord Cowdray; Henri Martin and Jean-Paul Gardere were appointed managers and Latour became the first First Growth to replace its oak fermenting vats with temperature-controlled stainless steel.

Allied Lyons bought the estate in 1989 for around 110 million pounds, and sold it in 1993 to Francois Pinault, who acquired it through his holding company Artemis for about 86 million pounds and owns it still. Frederic Engerer joined in 1995, was appointed manager in 1998, and is now president and chief executive.